Video: Honky Tonk Man Talks On IC Title, Ultimate Warrior & More

Honky talks about the decision for him to win the Intercontinental championship: “The old cliché, the right place at the right time. I wasn’t scheduled for the match that night against Ricky Steamboat. One of the guys who was scheduled had went AWOL or MIA and wasn’t there. They threw me in the mix and it happened.”

Whether he imagined that he would hold the title for such a long time: “I never thought it was ever going to be as big as it was. I knew if I had the opportunity, if I had the chance to get in the position to not be in the mid card or under card and be on top of the card. Because I had been around for about 12 or 14 years, I had perfected my class.”

Honky talks about dropping the title to The Ultimate Warrior at Summerslam 1988: “I thought it was best for all three parties. It was good for the company because they needed someone to take (Hulk) Hogan’s spot because he was going to Hollywood. They were going to push this kid all the way to the top and they did. It was good for the Ultimate Warrior because it made him a star overnight. It was good for me because it was short and it was fast.”

Whether he wanted to be a heel during his career: “I had developed and designed the character to be the bad guy. I knew what would make people really want to buy a ticket and see me get killed. I never really designed it or looked at it as a good guy and it never worked that way.”